


Words

by Between_A_Dream



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 11:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10807743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Between_A_Dream/pseuds/Between_A_Dream
Summary: Words have a way of sticking with Cosima and Delphine.





	Words

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly canon, but the bit at the end is just an educated guess haha. Hope you all like it!

"Enchantée."

The word ghosted out from Cosima, an echo to her French companion, leaving her lips tingling with the sensation of a foreign tongue's. This was more than a greeting to the both of them. This was an invitation, a welcome.

* * *

"I'm sick Delphine."

It was the first time it was just them. No monitor label, no Leekie, no science, no clones. It was Cosima, weak, and Delphine, weaker, both doing their best to be strong. One for herself, for her sisters and Kira. One for the other, for her love and her heart.

Cosima didn't know if she could trust Delphine, but she did know she needed her. She needed someone, and for some reason, she wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else. The blonde had found her way into her heart, and Cosima had no intention of letting go.

Delphine felt her heart break at those words. She had never loved anyone as she did Cosima, and she made it her priority to see to it that she stayed alive. Whether she stayed with her or not, that was a different story.

* * *

"Oh paurve petite chiot."

Cosima had learned a decent amount of French throughout the course of her relationship with Delphine. She wasn't fluent, not even close, but hearing frequently used words from the blonde was enough to get them to stick in her memory. The nickname was one that stuck, and between the moments of chaos, it was their source of teasing. It was the one constantthey had.

* * *

"Je t'aime."

Cosima didn't speak french. She tried to learn in high school years ago, and had ultimately ended up butchering the language so much that she was actually requested by the teacher to take another language. Any other language. It was that bad.

Of course, due to the fact that her French grade was lowering her GPA, the brunette had been all too happy to oblige, and had instead switched to Spanish. Not that she was much better at that, but it was easier than French, for whatever god given reason.

But as the words flowed from Delphine's lips, "Je t'aime," Cosima knew what they meant. Not just literally. And not just because she had picked up some cues from the blonde.

They were a language entirely on their own. Delphine's entire dialect was all on its own in a way that the scientist had never been able to understand.

Cosima knew she meant it. She questioned her, mostly because she was afraid, and partly because she needed to know she could trust her. But she did love her back, and she knew the French woman meant it when she told her she loved her. That was why she was okay saying it back. She accepted it. There was no keeping back what they had anymore.

* * *

"I love you."

The words were spoken in tears. Cosima was angry, more than anything. She was the one who had done it to herself. She had made Delphine promise to love her and her sisters equally. An unfair promise, she knew then and now, but one that for whatever reason, the French woman was determined to keep.

It was easier to shut each other out than attempt to deal with the heartbreak. Neither woman was willing to accept that it was over. It was easier to say it didn't happen at all. They weren't exes. They weren't even friends. They were now coworkers. Nothing more, and nothing less either.

But of course, they weren't.

* * *

"Can we just put our heads together like we used to and leave the crazy science out of it?"

Of course they couldn't.

* * *

"This doesn't have anything to do with Shay!"

But it did. Everything did these days, it seemed. Cosima's life had become about the blonde she barely knew. Maybe it was just because it was easier. Shay liked her. Liked her a lot. They had a healthy relationship, and they connected easily with their old school vibe. They didn't fight often, and things were clean between them. She was supportive and warm.

But she wasn't Delphine. And that was why it wasn't working. That was why everything was about her, because if anything wasn't, Cosima wasn't sure she would have the strength to stay with her. Shay became her drive for everything, her reason to keep away from the French woman. But it wasn't enough. She knew that.

"Before we die, we see what we love. Like, really pit-of-the-soul, can't-live-without-it, love. And sometimes, if it's strong enough, we come back."

And that had been Shay's biggest flaw. Confirming Cosima's worst fear and greatest desire. That she needed Delphine, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Whether the French woman wanted her back or not. She loved her. She didn't even know why.

They had little in common, other than their brains. But maybe, that was what drew them together. The mixture of physical chemistry and intellectual connection between the pair, it was something unlike either had ever experienced. They worked wonders together. It was something that Cosima didn't have to tell Delphine for the blonde to know. They felt it. And letting it die was killing them both.

* * *

"You'll be dead by morning."

There was something about the words that Delphine couldn't shake. Last words tended to be the most honest. How could they not be?

* * *

"Give your sisters all my love."

Cosima knew it was a warning sign. It wasn't just words, and it wasn't just a see-you-later kind of goodbye. It was the kind that said she wasn't coming back. But even knowing that, even seeing the anguish and regret in Delphine's eyes, she let her go. For whatever god given reason, she let her walk back to her car and drive away.

Maybe it was the guilt she felt for cheating on Shay. No, she knew that was wrong the moment the thought entered her mind. Her relationship with Shay was over, whether she had actually told the blonde or not. It was over the minute she told Delphine about her near death experience. It was over when Delphine showed up to her apartment to warn her. Maybe it was over before it even began.

Delphine drove away from Alison's fundraiser in tears, mixed emotions of sorrow and relief flooding through her all at once. But as she pulled into the DYAD, she forced herself to remain calm. Her heels clicked on the pavement, as she turned to see a gun pointed at her chest. Her only concern was Cosima's well being. She didn't care anymore about herself. She was expendable. As long as the clones were safe, it didn't matter if she died.

When the bullet hit her chest, the pain only lasted for a few solitary moments before she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

"I'm right here. I will keep you warm."

The words meant more than their basic definitions. Delphine was promising that she was alive, she was real, and she was going to make sure that Cosima stayed safe. Lying beside her felt like a dream. The clone had spent so long believing that Delphine was dead and that she was responsible. Now that she was here, alive and breathing, she wasn't sure how to feel.

She did know that she loved the French woman, and she didn't ever want to let her go again. Kissing her was hard, though only physically, but it felt like she had been given all the strength in the world as their lips met. It was easy to fall back asleep.

* * *

"I do."

Both women spoke the words, sealing their love for one another. They were the first real words that had been uttered between them. All others had been preceded and followed by heartbreak and betrayal. But on that day, Delphine dressed in white and Cosima wrapped in black, they kissed with a promise, and their words could finally be true.


End file.
